Marijuana Blog

In windy areas it is a good idea to plant crops on the perimeter of your cannabis growing area closely together to serve as a windbreak to protect the other plants. Tying plants to stakes driven into the ground, or constructing a rope and stick fence, are two ways you might achieve this. The drawback of course, is that those plants will be competing with each other very intensely for soil nutrients, sunlight, and water. Another method you could use to deal with windy areas is to keep your marijuana plants clipped. This will likely limit your harvest slightly, but the marijuana plants will also adapt and become denser in their branching, hence their flowering.

Usually, stress inhibits the growth of the marijuana plant, or will damage the yield at the time of harvest. Intentionally underwatering around harvest is a kind of stress that cannabis growers will use to improve on the bud quantity. Although it is wise to limit the water plants receive as you reach the harvest time, be careful not to let the marijuana plants get so dry that they wilt or burn in the sun- light. As the leaves drop off, or turn brown, the flowers that remain might resemble the resin in color and harshness of smoke. Download my free marijuana grow bible for more tips about growing marijuana plants.

Some stresses produce far more dramatic results and are based on less credible cultivation sense. These include: splitting the base of the marijuana plant with nails, severe pruning, and bending or contorting the stem. The goal of these actions is to increase the bud quantity of the marijuana plant. Although there does appear to be a relationship between stress and bud quantity however the fundamentals of the growing process are most important. Choice of location, soil and its nutrient content, and using good seeds are far more important to yield and potency than the stresses placed upon a plant.

If you want to start growing, download my free grow guide and order some marijuana seeds. All top quality marijuana seeds are available in my marijuana seed shop. We ship seeds to the US, CA and many other countries. For any growing related question please visit the marijuana support page.

Patients who use medical marijuana for pain and other chronic symptoms can take an unwanted hit: Insurers don't cover the treatment, which costs as much as $1,000 a month.

Once the drug of choice for hippies and rebellious teens, marijuana in recent years has gained more mainstream acceptance for its ability to boost appetite, dull pain and reduce seizures in everyone from epilepsy to cancer patients.

Still, insurers are reluctant to cover it, in part because of conflicting laws. While 21 U.S. states have passed laws approving it for medical use, the drug still is illegal federally and in most states.

But perhaps the biggest hurdle for insurers is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved it. Major insurers generally don't cover treatments that are not approved by the FDA, and that approval depends on big clinical studies that measure safety, effectiveness and side effects.

That research can take years and millions of dollars. And while the FDA has approved treatments like Marinol that contain a synthetic version of an ingredient in marijuana, so far, no one has gained approval for a treatment that uses the whole plant.

As a result of the obstacles, advocates for medicinal marijuana say insurers likely won't cover the drug in the next few years. In the meantime, medical marijuana users — of which advocates estimate there are more than 1 million nationwide — have to find other ways to pay for their treatment.

Bill Britt, for instance, gets his supply for free from a friend whom he helps to grow the plants. Britt lives mostly on Social Security income and uses marijuana every day for epileptic seizures and leg pain from a childhood case of polio.

"I'm just lucky I have somebody who is helping me out, but that could go away at any time," said Britt, 55, who lives in Long Beach, California. "I am always worried about that."

Insurers have not seen enough evidence that marijuana is safe and more effective than other treatments, said Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group.

Marijuana's Schedule I classification under the federal Controlled Substances Act makes it difficult to conduct clinical studies that might provide that evidence. The classification means the drug is considered to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. And that means extra precautions are required in order to study it.

Researchers have to apply to the FDA to approve their study. Public Health Service, another arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, also may review it, a process that can take months.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has to issue a permit after making sure researchers have a secure place to store the drug. Researchers also have to explain the study plan to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, another agency within Health and Human Services.

People who have cancer, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or other ailments could be able to use medical marijuana under the expanded "Charlotte's Web" bill awaiting the governor's signature.

The original proposal targeted only a limited number of children with debilitating seizures, but the bill's final wording means Florida will be taking a much larger step toward legalizing medical marijuana.

"It is very important to me to have cancer as a qualifying ailment," said state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar, who sponsored the original House bill and shepherded many of the last-minute changes, including the cancer addition.

Gov. Rick Scott said last week he would approve the bill, but his office on Tuesday did not comment on the changes.

If Scott signs the measure, the Florida Department of Health would select and license five companies — one in each corner of the state and in Central Florida — to grow a marijuana variety bred to have a low content of the THC chemical that can get people high and a high content of the CBD chemical that is thought to improve nerve-cell function and shows promise in treating malignant tumors.

The companies would be able to harvest the plants and extract an oil first commercially introduced in Colorado under the brand name "Charlotte's Web." And they would be able to sell the oil in their own dispensaries, which the state could authorize throughout Florida.

As early as Jan. 1, Florida doctors could start registering patients to buy and use the oil if the patient is "suffering from cancer or a physical medical condition that chronically produces symptoms of seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms," according to the revised bill.

Medical-marijuana opponents say they are concerned about expanding the range of potential abuses.

"Would a physician treating someone for nonmalignant skin cancer be able to place an order? What about someone who has persistent leg cramps?" said Calvina Fay, executive director of Save Our Society From Drugs.

The final bill still is far from creating the kind of broad medical-marijuana legalization that Florida voters will consider in November when they decide Amendment 2.

Unlike the Charlotte's Web bill, the ballot initiative would not limit THC content; it would legalize smokable marijuana; and it would authorize treatment of a much broader range of diseases.

Still, the bill — the final version was known as substitute Senate Bill 1030 — creates a state regulatory, licensing and oversight bureaucracy that could serve as the framework to support Amendment 2 if it is approved, or to handle future expansions of medical marijuana authorized by the Legislature.

Gaetz called the bill "a start" and said he expects it to be built upon.

He said he still would like to see Florida address conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, which this bill does not. He also acknowledged that the low THC — limited to 0.8 percent of the oil — would make the oil ineffective for other treatments, including relieving the nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy.